Sunlight tapered across the room through the break in the curtains. It came to rest on the face of Alana, who shook herself awake. She didn't want to wake up, though she also didn't want to be late to school. Finally she fought open her eyes. She was confused for a minute of where she was, but then realization set in. She remembered everything, the train ride, the difficult walk here, and the conversation with Christian the night before. Alana realized she still didn't know anything about Christian, he hadn't really answered any of her questions. Then one question edged into her mind and she couldn't get rid of it. 'When do I go report for lessons??' She kept asking herself. He hadn't said anything about schedules. She looked at the clock on her wall. It read seven a.m. She had woken up awfully early.
She sat on her bed pondering what time to report in for quite some time. She finally came to the decision of eight o'clock as that was when she usually had to report for school back in England. She threw on some clothes and opened the cupboards for something to eat. Once more something Christian had forgotten to take into consideration. There was no food at all in Alana's apartment.
With stomach growling at eight o'clock, she walked next door and knocked lightly. There was no reply. She knocked harder, repeatedly. Finally there was a response:
"GO AWAY!!!" Christian yelled from within. Alana was hungry and angry now. She felt on the second day that she should not be turned away. One thing Christian was about to learn about Alana was that she was stubborn. She continued knocking.
"I'm not going to get up, so you might as well stop!" He yelled again. She continued. "Fine!! Knock till your hands bleed for all I care!! I'm not going to answer the door." He yelled after he noticed her knocking was still proceeding.
Suddenly it was silent. It stayed that way. Christian figured she had finally given up. So he just rolled over, when suddenly, she knocked again. This startled Christian mid-roll. On the other side of the door, Alana heard a loud, THUMP. She figured Christian had finally gotten up. After a few seconds, she heard the door click and it opened, revealing a tired, disgruntled Christian on the other side.
"What do you want?" He spat at the girl on the other side.
"What I came here for, and breakfast. Now when are lessons starting?" She asked happily.
"Later, I'm sleeping at the moment." Christian replied and proceeded to close the door. Though Alana was too fast for him, and stopped it before he could fully close it. She shoved it open so hard Christian almost fell over on the other side. She walked right in and found what appeared to be his kitchen. It was in large disarray, and it took her a bit to find anything somewhat edible. Though she rose triumphant from her battle in his kitchen with what appeared to be a muffin. She turned around and saw Christian with a blank look on his face. He had no idea what to do about this girl.
The whole idea of taking on an apprentice was quite preposterous to him. He felt that he didn't have enough skill to teach anyone anything. He had received a lot of letters from hopeful parents many times. Everyone wanted their dreaming son or daughter to become a rich famous writer like himself. All of the letters seemed to have an essay written by their youth (it was like someone told all of them that was how they were supposed to submit an application or something). Many of the girls and boys said they wanted to become writers to tell the world their story, and something like that. Though he could read right through the lines, all they ever wanted was money. Most of the parents that wrote him letters were already very wealthy, and promised him large sums. It was tempting but he turned down every single one.
Then finally he got another letter. It was somehow different. It was the same type of parents, just wanting their child to succeed. Though the child herself seemed somewhat despondent to working with him. In fact the parents wrote that they could not get their daughter to write him something especially for this. So instead they included a short story the girl had written. It was about a dragon, it was wandering the skies. It was totally lost, it couldn't find it's way back home though it really didn't care. It had lost everything it had cared for, it had no life back home, so it was in no hurry to find it's way back. In some way the dragon wanted to be lost, it didn't want to think about the emptiness of home. So it preoccupied itself with finding it's way back.
The story had made Christian cry. It reminded him of everything that had happened twenty years ago. He had still never let go, he still sat in his same apartment, gazing at the turning windmill. He remembered everything, everything that happened in those short months at the Moulin Rouge. He could never go back, though he felt he must. Just like the dragon in the story.
A year after Satine died, he had written it all in a novel. It was his way of venting everything that had happened to him. Though it did help, he still couldn't get over Satine. In their short period of time together, Satine had become everything to him, and without her, Christian was lost. Toulouse helped mend the wounds though. He even helped the book become published. He never even saw the initial success though, Toulouse died one year after the novel was written, in 1901. Christian became lost again, this time he never did find his way back.
Now he just stood there, staring at the girl eating a muffin in his kitchen. He couldn't help but hope that maybe this girl could become a friend to him like Toulouse had. Then maybe he would be able to find his way again. He had been drifting in the sky for about eighteen years. It was time for him to come back down, and come back to the life he had left behind.
"There's no food in my apartment, I believe you said you would provide room and board, or something to that effect." The girl attempted to say strongly, though really she was still unsure on whether he had said that. Christian smiled at how the girl said that. This was the second time he smiled in two days. Which was strange for him. But then again, getting up before four p.m. was strange for Christian also.
"I'm sorry, I'll be sure to pick up some groceries for you today, or I can just give you the money and you can go shopping on your own Alana." He told her, reassuring her thought that he had promised food.
"Call me Lana," the girl said with a smile.
"Well, Lana," Christian said trying out the new name, "I was going to let you settle in all of today, and get used to living here. Though as I'm already up, I say we start lessons today. Whenever you're ready, I'll be here." With that he turned to leave, but the girl stopped him mid-turn."
"Wait." Lana said, making Christian turn and pay attention to her, "Thank you….for everything. I know I haven't acted it, but I'm …..well….I really am glad you took me here…and well….." Lana said looking at her feet.
"Your welcome." Christian said as she trailed off. With that he turned and walked out of his kitchen, wearing a smile on his face once again.